Tag: Ministry of Health

Wednesday, 25. April 2012, 19:30

Former Minister of Health Ivan Uhliarik allowed the company Sanaplasma, despite the disagreement of the experts, the export of blood plasma abroad. According to the director of National Transfusion Service it is a dangerous precedent and if Sanaplasma takes our donor base, the sufficiency of blood reserves in Slovakia will be threatened. According to Uhliarik the private company fulfilled all necessary conditions, and thus he could not refuse its request. Ministry of Health, according to him, issued the permission in accordance with the law.

Tuesday, 24. April 2012, 19:00

President Ivan Gašparovič expects the new Minister of Health Zuzana Zvolenská to prepare a comprehensive legislative change, which will remove the incompatibility of existing laws. According to the President, it is necessary to create one law and then proceed according to it. The proposed change is supported also by the representatives of healthcare professionals and hospitals. They proposed that current six healthcare laws should be finally integrated into one law. 

Tuesday, 24. April 2012, 18:55

Number of inpatient facilities should be, according to the President Ivan Gašparovič, certainly reduced. In the future it will be necessary to solve the density of hospitals and density of beds, which is currently oversized. Minister of Health introduced to the President the proposals, which she wants to incorporate into the government program. They also discussed the measures, by which the MoH wants to solve the salary issue of nurses and other healthcare professionals. Minister will present them to the public after the Tuesday's negotiation with the representatives of nurses. 

Wednesday, 18. April 2012, 14:26

Minister of Health Zuzana Zvolenská continued this week in the personal changes in the state-run organizations. Changes thus took place on further directors´ posts in hospitals. New head of the MoH noticed the main hygienist and directors of hospitals in Bratislava, Banská Bystrica, Žilina, Prešov and Košice and directors of some emergency services. Zvolenská according to the spokeswoman of the Ministry prefers the experts with practice and she installed in the managerial posts people, who were addicted to this issue long-termly and are seen as experts in their field.

Tuesday, 17. April 2012, 10:33

As results from the report on development of the debts in health care system, new management of Ministry of Health plans to continue in decreasing of expenses on pharmaceuticals from the public health insurance. Planned measures involve the de-listing of supportive and supplementary pharmaceuticals from the reimbursement from health insurance and tightening of the rules of price-referencing of the pharmaceuticals. Ministry also expects savings due to creation of central purchasing unit. This unit will, based on the comparison of prices of all institutions in the scope of MoH, recommend the purchase price. 

Tuesday, 17. April 2012, 10:31

Risk-adjusted redistribution of health insurance contributions between the insurance companies on the basis of morbidity of patients will bring first results next year. Acute problem of hospitals with the lack of funds for higher salaries of healthcare professionals will therefore not be solved by this measure. First fair redistribution will allegedly occur not sooner than in October or November and real effect may be expected in 2013. Všeobecná zdravotná poisťovňa (General Health Insurance Company) has the highest risk-index and new redistribution should bring it approximately € 30 million extra. These could be afterwards distributed to hospitals.

Tuesday, 17. April 2012, 10:16

First negotiation between nurses and new Minister of Health Zuzana Zvolenská did not bring any concrete results. Slovak Chamber of Nurses and Midwives and Minister were seeking for the solutions of the problem with statutory raise of salaries and allegedly took over some alternatives how to solve the situation with its financial covering. Minister will talk with Ministry of Finance and then she will meet nurses again.

Tuesday, 17. April 2012, 10:13

Prime Minister Robert Fico asked Minister of Health Zuzana Zvolenská to prepare the legal measure, which would limit the opportunity of profit-making for health insurance companies in accordance with the Constitution as well as with international law. Profit-making has currently two conditions. First one is an obligation to use the profit for creating of reserve fund and second one is mandatory making of reserves for payments of patients on waiting lists.

Thursday, 12. April 2012, 16:43

Redistribution of health insurance contributions should be adjusted by a new parameter – morbidity (through PCG). This should be one of the system solutions which minister Zuzana Zvolenská wants to implement in the effort to find money for higher salaries of healthcare professionals. Contributions from policyholders are currently redistributed by Health Care Surveillance Authority on the basis of age, sex and economic activity of patients. Adding the predictor of morbidity would allegedly mean that the state-owned Všeobecná zdravotná poisťovňa (General Health Insurance Company) would get additional € 30 million from private health insurance companies. 

Thursday, 12. April 2012, 16:38

New Minister of Health, Zuzana Zvolenská, asked hospitals not to push nurses to unfavourable contracts. On her first meeting with nurses they discussed how to find money for statutory increasing of their salaries. Minister says that money could be gained by better setting of healthcare system or by finishing the setting of prices of pharmaceuticals. She has already negotiated about this situation with Minister of Finance and claims that she did not ask for money out of health chapter. Minister wants to find money also in the state-owned Všeobecná zdravotná poisťovňa (General Health Insurance Company).